


Komorebi

by snaeken



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Bowling alley, High School, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Summer Vacation, bowling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-07-05 09:17:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15860724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snaeken/pseuds/snaeken
Summary: After living around the world for over ten years, Nolan and his family have just moved back to Beacon Hills the summer before his senior year of high school. Tired of his dad's army job causing them to have to move, Nolan's determined to hate the town. However when he meets Brett at the local bowling alley, the other boy seems set on changing his mind.





	Komorebi

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ExtraSteps](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExtraSteps/gifts).



> _Komorebi (Japanese 木漏れ日) - Sunshine filtering through the leaves of the trees._
> 
>  
> 
> Happy birthday Alicia <333

Nolan’s pretty much the only person he knows who doesn’t like bowling, and he knows  _a lot_  of people.

It’s one of the first things he and his family do when his dad gets transferred to a new city, new country, new continent. They get their bearings, they stake out the nearest bowling alley, and they bowl.

He used to enjoy it when he was younger; it was so exciting to see all the lights and hear all the sounds from the arcade areas, the unmistakable although not entirely pleasant scent of fast food mixed with rental shoes, all the different people whooping and laughing as they got strikes or just hit a few pins or somehow missed  _all_  of them, even with the safety barriers up.

Now, though, it just means change. It means packing up everything he owns, leaving behind friends, girlfriends, boyfriends. It means he has to start from scratch,  _again _,__ and he’s tired of it.

 

The family in the lane next to them are grating on his nerves. The kids are at that awful age where they screech instead of talk, going out of their way to annoy each other however they can. He glances up at their scoreboard and sees they only have a few turns left. Hopefully they’re not playing another game after it.

“Cheer up, kiddo,” his dad claps him on the shoulder. “Come on, your turn.”

He goes to the ball return, waiting for the ball he likes to reappear. It doesn’t matter how often you go to a bowling alley, doesn’t even matter what country you’re in. You always find a ball in your lane and hone onto it, declaring it as your own for the remainder of your turns.

After a couple of seconds it comes up, clacking against the other balls. Before he can pick it up though, the mother from the next lane takes it. They both look up and she gets this offended look on her face; he’s pretty sure he’s scowling but he can’t help it. She goes over to bowl and Nolan groans, testing the other balls to see which one fits best.

He settles on a ball which doesn’t have quite as good a grip as the one which was snatched from him. As he throws it, it heads straight down the centre of the lane, and for a second Nolan thinks he might actually get a strike. Then the pins all start to fall. Except for the two at the back of each corner, that is. That really just sums up the entire day. He’s only likely to hit one of them on his second throw; the chances of getting a spare are slim to none.

He goes back to the ball return, taking the good ball before anyone else gets the chance. It doesn’t make a difference which pin he aims for, so he goes for the one on the left. Just as he throws the ball, one of the kids in the next lane starts screeching. Instead of hitting the pin, his ball careens into the gutter before it even gets halfway down the lane.

He turns around to glare at them; there’s a blue slushie spilled all over the ground, creating an expanding puddle. One of the kids is screeching that the other kid knocked it out of his hands while the other kid is screeching his innocence. Their voices clash and grate against each other to create a tone even someone hard of hearing would get annoyed by. The mother is clearly used to it, silencing them with the threat of going home without finishing the game if they don’t start behaving. That shuts them up pretty quickly, but it doesn’t improve Nolan’s mood. He can tell his parents are annoyed too, but they’re being too polite to say anything. It’s not like them, to be honest. Maybe they just don’t want to make the night any worse by making enemies with the locals on day one in a new town.

 

“Some people,” his mother tutts when the other family finally leave.

“Didn’t even tell anyone they spilled their drink,” his dad shakes his head.

“And those  _kids_. I wouldn’t have tolerated it if you’d been like that, Nolan.”

“Good ol’ USA,” he snarks, and his parents laugh instead of berating him for his mood. It would seem he’s allowed to be grumpy now that they both are, too.

“Nolan, why don’t you go and find a member of staff? See if they can get it cleaned up.”

He doesn’t agree or disagree, just stands up, rolling his eyes once he has his back to them. There’s nobody at the counter, so he wanders down into the arcade area. He’s immediately almost knocked over by yet more running children and he curses under his breath. He doesn’t normally have anything against kids, and he knows it’s Saturday night, but jesus. Don’t they have bedtimes or something?

 

Then a tall guy in a staff uniform comes up from behind Nolan, overtaking him while avoiding the kids with a practiced art.

“Excuse me?”

The staff guy turns around, and Nolan physically gulps because he doesn’t think he’s ever seen such an attractive person in his life. He looks around Nolan’s age, although it can be difficult to tell with tall people. He’s well built, and he definitely works out or plays sports or something; his work uniform’s sleeves are tight around his biceps. He looks sleepy as opposed to tired, although Nolan thinks that might just be his face rather than a lack of sleep. Nolan can’t work out what colour his eyes are, something between pale blue or green, but they don’t seem to be more one or the other. On anyone else they would look judgemental, but despite being criminally attractive he doesn’t really look like he has a mean bone in his body.

“Can I help you?” the attractive staff guy - Brett, according to his name tag - asks.

“Jesus, you look like a model,” Nolan blurts out and immediately regrets it. His inability to function in front of pretty people kind of makes him want to crawl into a hole and die.

Brett parts his lips just slightly, and Nolan thinks he’s about to get shot down in flames, only Brett’s  _blushing _.__

“Nope, not a model. Just an ever-faithful bowling alley employee.”

“You should be. A model, I mean.”  _Shut up shut up shut up _.__

“Not sure it’s really my thing,” he shrugs. He’s not denying that he  _could_ be a model, though. “Did you need something?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. Slushie. The people in the lane next to me spilled a slushie, then they left.”

Brett almost looks disappointed for a fleeting second, then neutralises his expression and just looks at Nolan. The silence between them stretches out, causing Nolan to wilt slightly under his gaze. He’s definitely feeling judged now. “You’re not kidding.” It’s a statement rather than a question, but Nolan shakes his head anyway. “That’s the third one tonight,” Brett groans. “Which lane?”

“Sex.” Nolan’s eyes widen and Brett gets a bemused look on his face. “Six! I meant six! Definitely six.”

Brett cracks up. His laugh sounds nice too, and absolutely nothing about this encounter is fair.

“God, you’re adorable,” Brett says when he stops laughing.

He doesn’t really know how to respond to that, and at this point he should probably just keep his big mouth shut, but he says, “Uh, thanks Brett,” anyway.

“Y’know, I’ve always found the whole name tag thing pretty unfair,” Brett says. “Everyone who comes in here can find out my name, but do I get to know any of yours? Nope.”

“It’s Nolan.”

“Nolan, huh?” Brett smiles. “Well then, Nolan, I’ll just go and get the mop, and I’ll be right over to your lane.” He pretends to ponder for a moment. “Lane  _sex_ , was it?” he smirks.

“Shut up,” Nolan mumbles, blushing, because words aren’t his friends today. He's totally going to blame jet lag.

“I’ll be over in a minute,” Brett laughs as he turns and leaves.

 

“It’s been your turn for almost five minutes, did you get lost or something?” Nolan’s dad laughs when he finally returns.

“We need to leave. Like, immediately,” he says, sitting down instead of taking his turn.

“What? Why?” his mom asks. She and his dad are both looking at him with concern.

“I made a fool of myself in front of Brett and now I can never show my face in public again.”

“Brett? Who’s Brett?”

“That would be me.”

Brett’s appeared out of nowhere, mop in hand, smirking at Nolan.

“Oh, Brett," his mom says. Nolan can see the gears turning in her head. "It's Talbot, isn't it?”

“Uhh, yeah?” Brett says, looking a bit confused.

Her face softens. “We used to live here a number of years ago, we just moved back. I’m sorry about your parents.”

Brett looks like he’s just had the wind knocked out of him. His face wrinkles up in pain for a second before he schools it into something forced and neutral.

“Thank you. I’ll just,” he motions between the mop and the floor and excuses himself.

Nolan steps up to bowl and picks up the ball he wants. He feels watched though and it throws his concentration. He throws the ball and it veers to the left instantly, only knocking down two pins in the back corner. He goes back to his seat and notices Brett watching him from the corner of his eye.

“ _Let’s go bowling_ , they said,” he mutters under his breath. “ _It’ll be fun_ , they said.”

 

It doesn't take long for Brett to finish mopping up, and he smiles at Nolan before disappearing. They don't have many turns left at bowling, and when they finish up his mom ends up winning both games.

Nolan doesn't even notice the napkin that's appeared next to their drinks until his dad points it out, a knowing smile on his face. A napkin with Brett's name and phone number on it.

 

***

 

"Nolan!” Kira beams into the camera when he video calls her two days later. She’s got her hair up in a messy bun and she’s wearing pyjamas, obviously ready for bed. The time difference between California and South Korea is absolutely horrendous.

“Hey bestie,” he smiles back, already in a better mood just for seeing her. “Sorry about going dark for a couple of days, moving’s been a pain in the ass.”

“You don’t need to explain yourself to me. I’ve done the whole moving countries thing too, remember?”

And she has, Kira’s parents are in the army too. They’ve been lucky enough for their families to usually be stationed together. Not this time though. Kira’s still in South Korea while Nolan’s been dragged back to California. It’s not the first time they’ve been apart but it’s definitely less than ideal, being on a different continent to your best friend.

"Come on, house tour," Kira says as she settles into her bed. Nolan rolls his eyes but happily obliges her.

"Behold, the bedroom," Nolan announces, switching the camera around and slowly panning around his bedroom.

"Oh yeah, you've been sooo busy with unpacking," Kira laughs. Nolan changes the camera again quickly to flip her off. He can't really argue with her though, when he takes in the complete lack of decoration and boxes he's made no attempt to unpack.

Nolan does a quick tour of upstairs, including his parents’ bedroom and the bathroom, then goes downstairs. 

He takes the stairs two at a time on the way down, which both his parents have already told him to be careful when doing. Especially with a phone in his hands, he can't exactly disagree with them.

He sweeps through the hallway to the kitchen then through to the living room, where his mom's sitting reading a book. He seamlessly switches his narration to Kira from English to Japanese, knowing how much his mom hates it when she doesn’t know what he’s saying.

"Hi honey," she says, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Hey mom,” Nolan laughs, switching to English again. “I'm video chatting Kira, say hi."

"Oh, hi sweetie," she smiles, waving at Nolan's phone. "Can she see me?" she asks, still waving.

"Yeah mom," Nolan laughs while Kira says ' _Hi Maria_ ' in his ear. "Hold on, hold on." Nolan unplugs his earphones and takes his phone over so that they can speak to each other properly for a minute.

While his mom and Kira are speaking, Nolan gets himself a drink from the kitchen then sits down in the living room.

“I think Nolan wants you back now,” Maria laughs after she and Kira have been speaking for a while.

“No rush,” Nolan shrugs, standing up anyway when Maria tells Kira it’s nice speaking to her, even though it’s not the same as in person.

“And tell your parents we all say hello!” she adds.

“I will, don’t worry!” Kira replies, smiling at Nolan now that he has his phone back.

Nolan quickly finishes off the house tour, going through the rest of the rooms downstairs as well as the garage, even though it’s basically a mess of boxes. When he goes back inside, he makes a detour through the living room to grab his drink and his earphones before going back up to his room, closing the door behind him and settling down on his bed.

“So there’s something else I’ve not told you yet,” Nolan says.

“Oh? Well now I’m intrigued.”

“So you know how every time we move we-”

“-always go bowling, yeah. Well?”

“ _Well_  I might have embarrassed myself in front of a hot guy? And he might have given me his number?”

“You’ve only been there for two minutes!” Kira laughs, sitting up a bit in her bed to beam at Nolan through the camera. “What’s his name?”

“Brett, he works at the bowling alley. He’s like our age though.”

“Cool, have you texted him yet?”

“Um, no. Did you miss the part where I embarrassed myself in front of him? Like… it was bad, Kira. It was really bad.”

“Yet he still gave you his number. You’re the one creating the problem here, Nolan. Just text the hot guy, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“I might embarrass myself again, obviously.”

“Like that’s ever stopped you before,” Kira laughs. It swiftly transforms into a loud yawn, all teeth in the camera. “Sorry, it’s really late here. I should probably go before I fall asleep. On a side note, I want to fight whoever invented time zones because this is ridiculous.”

“Agreed,” Nolan sighs. A sixteen hour time difference is the complete opposite of okay. “Love you, bestie.”

“Love you too, bestie. Now text the hot boy!” Kira winks and disconnects the call.

Nolan groans and flops back on his bed. He knows she’s right.

 

He lounges around for a couple of hours but he’s getting increasingly restless sitting doing nothing in the house, cabin fever setting in already. He toys with his phone, opening up a new text to the number that was written on the napkin. He stares at the blank screen until it switches itself off, then he unlocks his phone and does it again. Nolan groans; he knows he’s overcomplicating things. It’s really not that big a deal.

 

 **Nolan:**  Hey, is this Brett?

 

The reply comes through surprisingly quickly.

****

**Brett:**  Who’s asking?

 **Nolan:**  The idiot who embarrassed himself in front of you at your work the other day

 **Brett:**  Oh, Nolan! What’s up?

 **Nolan:**  Not much, kinda bored. You up to anything?

 **Brett:**  I’m at work but it’s quiet just now, you could come round if you want? A few of us are having a game, you could join the next one

 

And there it is. Bowling. Nolan wants to roll his eyes, but he can’t exactly be mad that a guy who works at a bowling alley is inviting him bowling.

 

 **Nolan:**  Sure, be round soon

 

Nolan pockets his phone and his wallet, pulls his shoes on and goes downstairs.

“Mom, I’m going out,” he calls.

“Where to?” Maria calls back from somewhere in the house.

“Bowling, Brett invited me.”

He hears footsteps and Maria appears, a knowing smile on her face. “Bowling, huh? I thought you didn’t like bowling anymore.” Maria laughs when Nolan shrugs. “Do you need any money?”

“I mean, if you’re offering I won’t say no,” he smiles, face the picture of innocence. Maria rolls her eyes but pulls a twenty out of her pocket and hands it to him.

 

Nolan finds his way back to the bowling alley pretty easily. This town is so weirdly quiet compared to where they were staying in South Korea. Even though it’s summer and there are people around, it’s really not  _that_  busy. There’s plenty of personal space, even when walking past people there’s more than enough room to pass them by without bumping into each other. It’s nothing like the comforting crush of the city streets, just being another anonymous body in the crowd rather than having enough time to make out the features of every single person you pass.

The sooner he can get out of here, the better. He’s only got a year to go until college. This time next year he could be anywhere in the world.

 

When Nolan goes inside it’s not busy at all. There’s one lane being used, a parent with a few little kids. They both have a dreaded slushie, which are apparently the bane of bowling alley employees lives.

He spots Brett at a lane further along with some other young guys – he’s kind of hard to miss, being so tall. He passes by the empty reception desk and heads towards them, Brett already having spotted him and smiling. Brett waves and Nolan waves back, fighting the grin that’s trying to spread over his face. This is only the second time they’ve met, it’s not that big a deal.

There are numerous sets of eyes on him when he reaches the group. Apart from the other guy in a bowling alley uniform, that is, who’s just gotten a strike and frowns when he realises nobody’s noticed.

“Hey Nolan,” Brett says cheerfully. Then,” Guys, this is Nolan. Nolan, guys.”

He shouldn’t feel so self-conscious, especially around a bunch of small town kids. He meets new people all the time, it’s not a big deal. But with the way some of them are looking at him he feels well and truly scrutinised.

“Hey man,” a black kid holds a hand up in greeting. He’s sitting in another boy’s lap, the other boy’s arms around his waist. They’re clearly an item. “I’m Mason, this is my boyfriend Liam. Nice to meet you.” Liam briefly raises a hand too but quickly snakes it back around Mason’s waist.

“Yeah, you too,” Nolan replies.

Mason seems friendly enough but Liam’s still giving him a weird look, sizing him up. That might just be Liam’s face though.

“I’m Corey,” smiles the other bowling alley employee who just got a strike, approaching him and holding out a hand for Nolan to shake.

“Hey,” he smiles, shaking Corey’s hand.

Corey looks pointedly at the one guy who hasn’t introduced himself yet. He looks even less friendly than Liam, with his arms crossed over his chest. “Theo, come on, be nice.”

“Hi,” Theo eventually says, and Corey rolls his eyes.

“You’ll need to excuse my boyfriend, he’s just grumpy because his parents have gone abroad for two weeks without him.”

“It’s not because they left me, it’s because they _left Tara too_ ,” Theo huffs. “She’s totally taken over the house, she’s a tyrant. It’s like being in college suddenly makes her think she can boss me around.”

Corey gives Nolan an amused smile but otherwise doesn’t say anything.

“I’ve got it!” Liam suddenly announces, drawing all eyes to him. He’s looking at Nolan intently. “You used to live here, didn’t you?”

“Like forever ago, yeah.”

“Nolan  _Holloway?_ ” Mason asks. Nolan nods his head. “Dude, I remember you! You left in like kindergarten, right?”

“Yep,” Nolan says, popping the P. “And now I’m back.” He doesn’t quite mask how unamused he is about that. A few of them frown, including Brett, and he’s pretty sure Theo’s scowl deepens.

“Come on guys, enough with the interrogation,” Brett says, turning to Nolan. “You want a milkshake or anything? I can whip one up if you want.”

“I’ll have one,” Liam interjects, smiling sweetly from behind Mason.

“Me too,” Mason and Corey both say.

Brett rolls his eyes. “Anyone else?”

“Fine,” Theo sulks. Brett and Liam both laugh at him and Corey kisses him on the cheek. A group comes in the front door. “Be right back,” Corey says, detaching himself from Theo to go and see to them.

“What flavour do you want?” Brett asks. “If you want one, that is.”

“Strawberry’s good,” Nolan says.

“Coming right up.” Brett winks and starts walking towards the food area.

“I’ll join you if that’s okay,” Nolan says.

Brett nods so Nolan follows him over, staying on the customer side as Brett lifts the counter and goes behind it. He pulls some glasses from a shelf and starts preparing the milkshakes.

“Sorry about them,” Brett says, stopping to look at Nolan. “I guess they’re a little intense if you don’t know them.”

“It’s fine, I’m used to it,” Nolan shrugs. “Perpetual new guy and all that.”

And he is used to it, isn’t sure why it felt different this time. Maybe it’s because they’re not army kids and he’s finally the odd one out. Maybe it’s because they actually seem to remember him and he doesn’t even remember living in this town, let alone any of them. He guesses it must be a small town thing, latching onto the past and remembering everything that’s happened there rather than just going with the flow of life. There’s so much more out there than this.

“So what are their deals, anyway?” Nolan asks. “Childhood sweethearts or what?”

Brett considers him for a moment. “You really don’t remember any of us, do you?” There’s no heat behind it, no upset, just a simple question.

“Honestly? No.”

He supposes he should maybe feel bad about it, but he doesn’t know these people, not yet anyway. He doesn’t owe them anything.

“Well Liam and Mason have been best friends forever, like pretty much straight out of the womb. Mason’s been out as gay since like middle school. Somewhere along the line Liam worked out he’s bi and they’ve been together ever since.”

“And Corey and Theo?”

“They’re… not quite so simple.” Brett gives him a wry smile. “They only really got together properly around Christmas time last year. Corey’s gay too, came out round about the time Liam and Mason got together. For a long time though, Theo didn’t really seem interested in anybody at all. Then one day, totally out of the blue, he asks Corey to go on a date with him. Corey had been pining over him forever and actually thought it was a joke at first, but long story short Theo’s demisexual and just took a bit longer than us to work out who he likes.”

“Oh, cool. It’s nice they’ve got each other.” He tries to keep his voice neutral when he asks Brett, “And what about you? Boyfriend? Girlfriend?”

“I’m single,” Brett smiles at him knowingly. “Had a girlfriend until last year but we were in totally different places maturity-wise. We still talk sometimes, but,” Brett shrugs, trailing off. “I’m also bi, in case you’re wondering.”

“Awesome,” Nolan smiles. He got the information he was looking for, even if he was a little obvious about getting it. He holds his hand up to Brett. “Give me a bi-five!”

“A what?” Brett laughs loudly. Nolan glances over and sees the others watching them from the bowling lane.

“A bisexual hi-five. A bi-five. C’mon, don’t leave me hanging.”

“That’s hilarious,” Brett says, finally reciprocating the bi-five and still chuckling a little bit. “I’ll need to tell Liam that one.” Then he glances over too. “Looks like we have an audience.”

“It would appear so,” Nolan agrees.

”They’re a bunch of freeloaders anyway, just using Corey and I for our staff discounts,” he mock sighs.

“I can pay for the milkshakes if you want,” Nolan says, digging around in his pocket for the money his mom gave him. He smoothes it out a bit and places it down on the counter.

“Y’know, if you do it once they might expect it to become a regular thing,” Brett tells him, but he’s already processing the payment.

“Nah, it’s fine,” Nolan shrugs.

“Well then, thanks for the milkshake,” Brett smiles, warmth emanating from him. He hands Nolan back his change, fingers lingering against Nolan’s for a couple of seconds longer than entirely necessary. Not that Nolan’s complaining; he can feel a blush threatening to creep up his cheeks. It’s Brett’s fault for being so damn pretty.

Brett puts all the milkshakes on a tray except Nolan’s, which he takes himself, and they go back over to the others.

“Guys, Nolan paid for our milkshakes,” Brett announces. 

He gets back a chorus of thanks from the others, including a clap on the shoulder from Mason who’s finally vacated Liam’s lap. He didn’t do it for the attention but the appreciation’s nice.

The others finally finish their current game and unsurprisingly Corey wins. Brett sets up a new one, putting Nolan’s name in first, and suddenly it’s his turn to bowl. All eyes are on him while he tests the balls at the ball return, seeing which one’s most comfortable to hold. Once he’s picked one he steps up and rolls it, smiling to himself when it goes straight down the middle of the lane and knocks every single pin down.

He turns around and Brett whistles lowly. “Looks like we’ve got some competition.”

 

The afternoon flies by between chatting and bowling and taking sips of milkshakes. Corey and Brett have to disappear occasionally when customers come in or need assistance, but other than that the game runs smoothly. Nolan stops mentioning living abroad pretty quickly, noticing how… not intimidated, exactly, the other guys become - more like out of their comfort zone. It’s not surprising really, if they’ve lived in Beacon Hills their whole lives.

Some other members of staff appear to start the evening shift, relieving Corey and Brett of their duties. Liam wins the second game, although they all seem to be pretty evenly matched, really. Nolan comes somewhere in the middle and he doesn’t mind, although he knows he can do better. Brett takes the tray of empty milkshake glasses back to the food counter, chatting briefly with the girl who’s taken up post there. They all make their way to the door and Brett joins them shortly after.

“Thanks for letting me hang out with you guys,” Nolan says, even though he’s looking directly at Brett when he says it.

“No problem at all,” Liam smiles, and the others echo the sentiment. They start walking off in the opposite direction of Nolan’s house, leaving him to go home alone. He doesn’t mind, to be honest. Just as he’s turning to leave, a hand claps his shoulder and stops him. It’s Brett, giving him a hopeful look.

“See you soon?” he asks.

“Yeah, see you soon,” Nolan smiles. Then he figures fuck it, why not, and leans up and kisses Brett. He seems surprised momentarily, but when Nolan goes to pull away Brett chases his lips, kissing him back.

This time when he pulls away, Brett doesn’t stop him. He walks off, drawing his bottom lip between his teeth to stop the grin that wants to spread over his face. When he looks back over his shoulder Brett’s still watching him, not moving until Mason calls on him to hurry up.

This could be interesting. Very interesting indeed.


End file.
